Apparatus for the heat treatment of a running yarn



Oct. 8, 196.8 ATSUTOKIMANABE ET AL 3,404,441 APPARATUS FOR THE HEATTREATMENT OF A RUNNING YARN v Filed March 31, 1966 INVENTORS: NORINAGAKAWASAKI ATSUTOKI MANABE ATTORNEY United States Patent ice 3,404,441APPARATUS FOR THE HEAT TREATMENT OF A RUNNING YARN Atsutoki Manabe andNorinaga Kawasaki, Mihara-shi, Japan, assignors to Teijin Limited,Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Mar. 31, 1966, Ser.No. 539,156 Claims priority, application Japan, Apr. 17, 1965, to/29,9973 Claims. (Cl. 2862) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A continuous yarn isuniformly heated when advanced continuously through a bed of heatedspherical pellets confined in a chamber. The pellets have smooth outersurfaces and are movable by the frictionable forces imposed by themoving threadline whereby the yarn is continuously exposed to newsurfaces.

In conventional yarn processing, quite often it becomes necessary toheat-treat a yarn in order to impart to the yarn certain desirablecharacteristics. As an example, in drawing a yarn to improve the tensilestrength and to orient the molecules, heat is often applied to a runningyarn in order to conduct the drawing operation in an eflicient andsuccessful manner. Normally, the heating is carried out by employingdevices such as heater plates and/or pins and the running yarn isdirected over the heated surface of the plate in direct contact with thesurface, which is generally heated electrically by directing anelectrical current through elements disposed within the heating device.

It will be appreciated that this procedure is not entirely satisfactorybecause it is difficult to provide for homogeneous heat distributionacross the surface of the heating device and furthermore, the runningyarn eventually causes grooves in the surface causing yarn breakage,napping and similar type defects.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for heattreating a running yarn.

Another object is to provide an apparatus for heat treating a runningyarn which eliminates the above mentioned disadvantages.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdetailed description.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided an apparatus forheat-treating a running yarn which comprises a main body having an upperportion, a lower portion, a front wall and a back wall, said upperportion including a chamber containing a metal in the form of sphericalpellets, a slit disposed on each of said front wall and back wall insaid upper portion in 'a manner such as to permit passage of a runningyarn through one of said slits, thence through said chamber in contactwith said spherical pellets and thence through said other slit, andmeans associated with said main body to induction heat said pelletsduring passages of said running yarn.

For a clearer understanding of the invention, reference is made to thefollowing drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a prospective view of the apparatus of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 22 of FIGURE 1.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the apparatus comprises a main body 1 having anupper portion and a lower portion and a front wall and back wall, theback wall being visible in FIGURE 2.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that the upperportion of the main body includes a chamber which contains solid orhollow pellets, 6, which are 3,404,441 Patented Oct. 8, 1968 fabricatedfrom a metal, desirably iron spherical pellets, and these pellets arecontained in the chamber in quantity sufficient to substantially fillthe chamber. These pellets have smooth outer surfaces and. are movableso that new surfaces may be exposed to the yarn and so that there willbe minimum abrasion, cutting, and breaking of a yarn in its passagetherethrough as will be explained hereafter. Provision is made forintroducing or discharging the pellets from the chamber means of cover 2which is pivotably connected at one side to the edge of the upperportion of the main body as shown in FIGURE 2.

A slit 7 is disposed on each of said front wall and back wall in theupper portion of the main body and is positioned on said front and backwall in a manner such as to permit passage of a running yarn, A, throughone of said slits thence through the chamber in contact with thespherical pellets contained in the chamber thence through thecorresponding slit on the other wall. It will be obvious that the widthof the slit should be less than diameter of the iron pellets so that theiron pellets will not pass through the slit.

Means are associated with the main body to induction heat the pelletscontained in the chamber so that the running yarn passing therethroughmay be subjected to a heat treatment. These means include an electriccoil 4 disposed on both the right and left sides of the main body, whichis energized from an electrical supply source not shown in the drawing.Surrounding the coil on both sides thereof are metallic plates 3 and 8preferably, silicon steel plates, and the iron pellets are inductionheated by supplying electricity to the electric coil through themagnetic field formed between the iron pellets 6 and the silicon steelplates 3 and 5 in a manner well known in the art. Advantageously, thelower portion of the main body 5 is also constructed of metallicmaterial and most desirably of the same material which constitutes theside walls 3 and 8. Thus, the lower portions 5 of the main body not onlyaids in the heat induction of the iron pellets 6, but also is utilizedto form the lower part of the chamber containing the iron pellets to actas a support for the iron pellets.

In a representative technique of operation, a running yarn is passedthrough the slit 7 on one wall of the main body, through the chambercontaining the iron pellets 6 in contact with the iron pellets, andthence through the other corresponding slit on the other wall, whilepermitting an electrical current to pass through the coil 4, whereby theiron pellets contained in the chamber are induction heated. In thismanner, heat is supplied to the running yarn during its passage throughthe chamber and in contact with the iron pellets 6 and since the ironpellets have a smooth surface, there is substantially no chance forcutting the yarn or forming grooves in the heating surface of the ironpellet, thereby eliminating the disadvantages of prior art apparatus.

Although certain preferred embodiments of the invention have beendisclosed for purpose of illustration, it will be evident that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for heat treating a running yarn which comprises a mass ofmetal pellets resting by gravitational forces in a confined area, meansfor passing said running yarn through said mass of pellets and aninduction heater adapted to heat said mass of pellets.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes a mainbody having an upper portion, a lower portion, a front wall and a backwall, said upper including a chamber containing a plurality of sphericalmetal pellets, a slit disposed on each of said front wall and back wallin said upper portion, disposed in a manner to permit passage of arunning yarn through one of said slits, thence through said chamber incontact with said spherical pellets and thence through said other slit,and means associated with said main body to induction heat said pelletsduring passage of said running yarn.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said spherical pellets areiron spherical pellets and wherein said means associated with said mainbody to induction heat, said pellets include a coil disposed on both theright and left sides of the said main body, an electrical supply sourceassociated with said coil for energizing said coil and metal- '4 lieplates surrounding said coil whereby said iron pellets are inductionheated when said coil is energized.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,153,271 10/1964 Eshuis 281LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner.

